Comprehension difficulties in the design of Chinese official examination YCT2 (A1)

Abstract

In 2004, in order to meet the growing worldwide demand for Chinese as a foreign language (ChFL), Hanban implemented a Chinese test for students: Youth Chinese Test (YCT). The application of the official test at Confucius Institute of Spanish University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (IC-ULPGC) has provided certain comprehension difficulties in its design that hinder the realization.

This article seeks to identify linguistic misunderstandings presented in the design of YCT2 (A1) by a reflective analysis. This initial phase of action-research is done with sixty IC-ULPGC adolescents who respond to the YCT2 Syllabus model and seven exams used in previous calls.

  The results show an inadequate use of numbers and capital letters, addition and substitution of punctuation marks, both in pinyin and in characters, and omission of punctuation marks in pinyin. Our findings are a contribution for the teachers in teaching ChFL.